MIME Managment System

This control panel allows you to manage mime types & icons for the various files that the forum users can attach to their messages.

MIME types are special strings sent to the browser that tell the browser how to interpret the file. For example .exe file would have a application/application MIME type, which would tell the browser that the file should be saved to the user's hard rive instead of trying to open the file. On the other hand for .jpg image the forum would send a image/jpeg MIME, which would tell the browser to display the image in the browser window.

The MIME types are determined by the file extension and compared to the extensions of the supported MIME types inside the FUDforum 2.3 database. If the file does not match any MIME types it would be assigned the generic application/ocet-stream MIME type, which would tell the browser to save the file rather then try to display it.

The forum by default comes with 30 or so default MIME types that cover the most commonly used file types, so unless you have special file types not covered by this list you will not need to use this control panel.

Adding of a new MIME is normally a 2 step process, first you upload the image that you want to represent your new MIME and then you enter the actual MIME information such as a description, file extension and mime header. The 1st step can be bypassed if you already have an image that you wish to use in association with this MIME by choosing the image from the list of the ones already available in the forum.

Uploading MIME image

At the top of the MIME managment form there is a simple control, which allows you to choose an image from your drive and upload it to the server. Clicking on a browse link will open up a dialog allowing you to pick the image.

Click on the upload link to upload the image to the forum.

The preview of the uploaded image will appear on the MIME Managment control and the file name will automatically be inserted into the MIME Icon textbox.

Editing/Adding MIME Information

Now that you've uploaded your MIME image you can now specify the MIME information. If you choose to use an existing image, by clicking on the "select MIME icon" link that would pull up a pop-up window where all the MIME images in the system will be displayed and you'll be able to choose the one you want by clicking on it.

If you are editing a MIME, the information for the MIME will be automatically inserted in to the appropriate fields so you can easily edit it.

MIME Description

Use this field to enter a quick description of the MIME. This field's data will not show up anywhere on the forum other then this form.

MIME Header

This is the MIME header that will be sent to the browser when the user downloads a file that matches this MIME type.

File Extension

Files that end with this extension will be attributed assigned mime type.

This value is case-insensitive, so jpg and JPG are the same thing as far as MIME management system is concerned.

MIME Icon

This is an image that will be displayed beside all file attachments that are of this MIME type.

Preview Image

This field uses JavaScript to give you a preview of the currently selected MIME Icon.

Once all the MIME information is set to your satisfaction click on the "Add MIME" or the "Update" button, depending of whether you're adding or updating a MIME, to submit your changes.

MIME List

At the bottom of the MIME Manager there is a list of all the MIME types supported by the forum. Beside each MIME there is an edit link allowing you to edit this MIME as well as a delete link, which will delete the MIME.